Some starts burn brighter than others. The reason stars shine at all is because they are continually imploding on themselves causing high rates of friction which creates light. I guess society didn’t realize this when we began calling people stars. People imploding would be cause for concern and result in quite a mess! Either way, every organization has stars; individuals that excel at their trade. These are the people that you wish you could clone. “If only I had a team full of Peter’s! Wouldn’t that be awesome!”

Being still young in the implementation of Salesforce, it dawned on me that my users need a different type of motivation to really begin leveraging the platform. The “whats in it for me” statements haven’t really stuck when the benefits are coming from the corporate office; the same place that the “dreaded tool” is originating from. In the minds of my sales users, everything that corporate touches turns to, well, you know! It dawned on me that writing internal case studies, which we are calling Success Stories, could be a great way to quickly share peer-to-peer successes and create dialogue between these users.

What is a case study?

Marketing case studies have been used for years to communicate the benefit of a product or service from one peer to another. Used in a similar fashion, internal case studies can highlight the bright stars of your organization and provide motivation and direction to the larger user base. They can be communicated strategically, and are quick to create and publish. These peer-to-peer communications allow users to get an insight into the world of a power user, and begin to think about ways that they themselves can leverage the awesome power of Salesforce.

Administrators who want to drive adoption must use every resource at our disposal. Case studies allow us to showcase those individuals who have exhibited drive and determination.

Getting Started

First off, take a look at your adoption rates. Identify any groups or pockets of users that are having a hard time adopting. This would be your primary audience. Begin to understand what the behaviors are that they are not exhibiting compared to what you want them to exhibit. Next, find a couple of power users who have embraced the technology and are finding it beneficial in their day-to-date operations.

Writing the case study will require an interview of your power users. A phone conversation is preferred, but if time is a factor, you can always use an email forum. Hopefully you have identified a few behaviors that they excel at and have a few questions surrounding those behaviors.  Have the user speak to the benefits they found in using Salesforce, how it has helped them do their job better, and a take-away that can be used to encourage other users. Don’t let your interview span more than 30 minutes and take copious notes. You want to be able to quote the user verbatim in the published document.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Since you want every power user to have a chance in the spotlight, it is important to publish EVERY interview – even if you think it sucks. You don’t want to create enemies or have a power user become unwilling to assist you or other users in the future.

Putting the details together is just as important as the interview. Your star should feel important. Make them the hero. Build up their ego. Use their voice. Keep it short. Your case study should follow a simple formula, like this:

1. Attention grabbing headline with benefit
2. What the user did to get that benefit
3. An actionable take-away

Here is an example:

Don’t forget: make them the hero. Build up their ego. Use their voice. Keep it short.

Notice too that there is no mention of the administrator, and the majority of the text are in quotes. This is where your copious notes come into play! Using quotes in this manner prevents you from having the ability to tilt or slat the conversation or the desired outcome of the interview. Users will read it and take it for what it is.

Now that your case study has been drafted, it is important to get the feedback and approval from your power user. You want them to feel comfortable with the context and text. Allow them to recommend and adjust as they see fit (within reason). You want this to be in their voice and tone so allow them that flexibility. After it has been approved, decide when, where and how you want to distribute. Chatter is obviously a great place, but it shouldn’t be the only place. Get creative here! Send it via email or in the monthly company newsletter. Place it in the break rooms or any other location people congregate. Your goal is to make your power user famous and generate conversation!

Initiate Clone Sequence

People are competitive, especially sales reps. When publishing these success stories, the power user’s peers are going to begin to ask questions and try to emulate that individual because they don’t want to get left behind. As a result, you should begin to see improved usage and adoption within your user base. Non-adoptive users should now be looking at ways to leverage the platform to their advantage instead of letting it drag them down. Before you know it, you have cloned your power users and hopefully your adoption rates have increased.

What additional marketing techniques have you used internally to drive Salesforce adoption or buy-in within your organization?